Headline figures mask crisis of informal, volatile labor—IBON

May 6, 2026

The data underscore an economy without stable foundations. Agriculture and manufacturing are critical for broad-based and sustainable growth but continue to fluctuate and deteriorate, while services mainly absorb displaced workers in insecure and low-quality employment.

Unemployment rate in Southeast Asia

April 30, 2026

The jobs crisis is real. With weak growth and job-generating economic engines, PH has the highest unemployment in Southeast Asia, followed by Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand, per available data.

IBON Executive Director on higher unemployment rate

March 15, 2026

Highest joblessness since 2022 due to economy’s structural defects

March 15, 2026

The Marcos Jr administration needs to acknowledge and urgently address these problems, which cannot be reduced to last year’s corruption controversies and will only worsen as global oil shocks bear down in the coming months.

Labor market in crisis, not merely slowing down

February 9, 2026

NEWS

Recently released labor force data point to a deepening jobs crisis, not a mere “slowdown in momentum” as the Marcos Jr administration claims.

Unstable labor market

November 27, 2025

Job-destroying growth debunks stable labor market claims

November 6, 2025

Recent job losses show how unstable the Philippine labor market remains, reflecting the weakness of the overall economy.

Half-million drop in manufacturing: Jobs crisis highlights urgency of Filipino industrialization – IBON

June 8, 2025

Despite government claims of job resilience, research group IBON said that the country’s jobs crisis persists with significant manufacturing losses and worsening quality of work. The year-on-year increase in unemployed and underemployed Filipinos, lack of decent work, and huge drop in manufacturing jobs underscore the urgent need for a serious national industrialization strategy to create […]

Lower unemployment count masks true joblessness

May 15, 2025

Jobs has been a top concern for the Philippine electorate, but do the government and newly-elected lawmakers recognize the extent of the jobs crisis enough to buckle down to resolving it?